Thursday, July 17, 2014

The past week or so my mom has been in Colorado with her siblings while my grandfather has been in the hospital. He went in for issues with his heart (which were resolved nicely after a double bypass surgery), but after a week of complications with other organs, he finally passed away yesterday. It was a rough week. Not so much on my end, as I've just been super busy, but frustrating that everything was happening just a state away and I couldn't leave the commitments I'd made here to be more helpful there.

While we've never lived near my grandparents in Colorado, and never been able to spend large amounts of time with them, I'm sad to see him go. He was one of those people who has a subtle but very strong personality. A dry humor you might not catch if you're not paying attention. An incessant need to keep doing something, whether it's reading a newspaper or tinkering in the garage. I love him and I'll miss him.

Back in 2009. We all look a little different now!

One of my fondest memories of him is from when we were traveling the country and had to leave our two cats with them for a year - Abby and Mimpy. For whatever reason, my grandpa had decided that a better name Mimpy was Persnickety, so whenever he referenced her that was always what he called her. I think it confused me (as a nine-year-old) for a little while because I didn't know who he was talking about, but then I made sense of it and loved it. Persnickety - such a funny name, but particularly suitable for Mimpy as she was very cautious in her approach to most things.

Grandpa!

Another fond memory I have is when, following our trip, during which I'd collected over a hundred spoons from all over the country, he would constantly try and bargain with me to sell the spoons to him. We wouldn't see him for over a year, and then when we did, or when we talked on the phone, he would always ask me if I was ready to sell them to him. I think I was initially confused about that too (had to slowly pick up on the dry humor as a child), but once I understood he was joking, I enjoyed the constant reminder.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I feel like there are a bunch of random details just floating around out there that I've forgotten to tell all of you...

-I signed up for another half marathon, the Nebo Half (3500 ft. drop!) on September 6th. It falls almost exactly half way between now and the Moab Trail Half. I felt like I just needed something else in there...this week will be my fourth week of training (but I still feel unusually slow). (Also just bought some new trail running shoes! They're basically just like regular running shoes but with more aggressive tread. They'll work for any trail running I do and any hiking as well.)

-I signed up to volunteer with the Big Cottonwood Half the following weekend. I'll just be doing a shift towards the end of the week to help with the Expo rather than the race itself, so I won't have to get up super early or anything, but it should be fun! Free shirt/jacket included!

-I just picked up Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones, Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia, and Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens, all by Brandon Sanderson. Once I finish these I'll have read every book he's published. Woohoo! I'll just have to read a few more of his short stories to tie up the loose ends. We went to FantasyCon here in Salt Lake on the 4th of July and got to listen to him read excerpts from some of his upcoming books. Awesome!

-I go to Cabo this weekend with my work for a Group Ops retreat! I've been to Mexico before, but never Cabo. While I'm excited, I'll admit I'm a little sad I can't take Brandon with me!

-It's my mom's birthday today! :D

-I've been tutoring ESL students (two boys from France) for the past several weeks. Kind of fun to get back into teaching English, but it's hard work! My current student wants to come back and go to college here in the states so we're working on getting him prepared for the TOEFL. It's essentially an English comprehension test that looks a lot like some of the other standardized college acceptance tests.

-I'm planning on attending SteamFest at the beginning of August with some friends. Imagine a two day interactive murder mystery dinner on steroids but with better writing and all steampunk themed. Sort of like that. Anyway, I've been working on putting together a costume for that. Still lots of work to do but it's fun to work on!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Just after the fourth of July we went down to St. George and met up with all of Brandon's siblings and immediate family (and grandparents!). First time in several years they've all been in the same place! We had a good time, hanging out and catching up and eating delicious food. :)